Ed/Thoughts

Ed/Thoughts is focused on education innovation. This series highlights interesting program models, inspirational educators, and new research.

Sparking Genuine Curiosity: Making Learning Joyful and Personally Relevant

Making Learning Joyful and Relevant To infuse education with individual passions, we need to blend play, exploration, and real-world ties. By integrating simple tools like 'wonder walls' at home or 'open mic' sessions at school, we can amplify student interests. The goal is to intertwine authentic engagement with deep learning, fostering a landscape where every student's curiosity thrives.

Ellen Muench

Traditional Instructional Design: The Limitations of Conventional Learning Approaches

Learn about the limitations of traditional instructional design and how alternative approaches can better address the needs of modern learners. Find out what it takes to create more effective and engaging learning experiences.

Ellen Muench

How can we meaningfully reduce teacher workloads?

Reducing workloads is a strategy that would improve the teaching experience, reduce turnover, and increase satisfaction

Ellen Muench

Teachers are Struggling

We have to rethink the demands and incentives for a profession in crisis. Teachers want to do good work, we should enable that instead of thwart it.

Ellen Muench

Part 2 The Power of Relationships in the Classroom

The teacher-student relationship can transform the learning experience (for good or for bad).

Ellen Muench

Part 1: Emotions Are At Core of Powerful Learning

Emotions are key to learning and there are ways to better incorporate them into the classroom experience

Ellen Muench

How the Enrichment Gap Impacts Future Outcomes

There is a widening gap in access to meaningful learning experiences outside of the school building

Ellen Muench

How Funding Incentives Prevent Meaningful Non-Profit Collaboration

Funding incentives prevent meaningful non-profit collaboration

Ellen Muench

Experiences Are the Fabric of Our Identity

I was alone in the Appalachian mountains at age 16 when I first experienced the numinous. In a cocky display of its sheer power, the sun was both a razor shredding through the latticework of treetops and a delicate halo creating a halo of fog on the empty path in front of me. As an agnostic, unruly teen with 10 years of catholic education behind me, it was the first time I experienced the sheer enormity, mystery, and interconnectedness of the world, a version of what my theology teacher called god.

Ellen Muench

How Executive Functions Play A Role in Student Success

How can we help teens align their actions + their goals?

Ellen Muench